If the righteous are scarcely saved, who can be saved?
“So great is the depravity of the times, that if a stranger were to compare the precepts of the gospel with the actual practice of society, he would infer that men were not the disciples, but the enemies of Christ.”
St. John Chrysostom - on the priesthood
One day Saint John Chrysostom, preaching in the cathedral in Constantinople and considering these proportions, could not help but shudder in horror and ask, “Out of this great number of people, how many do you think will be saved?” And, not waiting for an answer, he added, “Among so many thousands of people, we would not find but a hundred who are saved, and I even doubt for the one hundred.”
If in the days of Byzantium, with preachers such as St. John Chrysostom, society was still so terribly sick, how must we look at our degraded days? If we are reasonable we must conclude that it is doubtful if in any nation even 100 people are working out their salvation. I hope that there are at least two or three people working out their salvation in every nation.
